All posts by Lorcan Tuohy-Donnelly

Teachers play a very important role in the Ty programme in schools so we had an opportunity to chat with Ms. Scott who is involved in the TY Programme in Synge Street School in Dublin. She told us about why she came to TY Expo and what parents can do to support their son/ daughter during their TY year.

We caught up with TY students from Borrisokane Community College who were attending TY Expo to learn about possible opportunites for the year. We asked them what they were hoping for from the year ahead.

ISSU are the Irish Second Levle Students Union and provide support for the student voice. Part of their work involves supporting the Student Councils in schools around the country. ISSU is run by students for students and you can hear more about the work of ISSU and how students can become involved in our interview below:

Teenline is a freephone and freetext service that is dedicated to supporting teenagers. The lines are open every day to support young people in need and all calls are confidential. We spoke to the Teenline Ireland volunteers to learn more about the work they do and also about how young people can get involved.

The Gaisce Award is an award from the President of Ireland for young people. There are three levels: bronze, silver and gold and students complete challenges in four areas to achieve the award. We learned about how students can get involved in the award.

Rhys Sheridan is a student in Piper’s Hill in Naas and was TY Ireland ambassador for the past year. He shared the story of his TY year with us and also gave us an insight into his role as ambassador. Rhys also had some good advice for TYs as they begin their TY journey.

Maria Walsh is a former Rose of Tralee who was at TY Expo with the Thomas Meagher Foundation. This organisation encourages citizenship by focusing on the Irish flag and what it means for young people. We spoke to Maria about her experiences and the work of the Thomas Meagher Foundation, and learned about her life post-Rose of Tralee.

We spoke with the volunteers from the Pramerica Spirit of the Community Awards at their stand at TY Expo. This is an all-Ireland programme that rewards students for their volunteerism. Students can apply for the award online and you can hear more about the award in our interview below:

Scifest is an exciting Science programme for all schools and is free to enter. It is particularly suited to TY and there are competitions at local, regional and national levels. Shiela Porter is one of the founders of SciFest and she spoke to us about the programme and how students can get involved.

Zeminar are a wellbeing and education movement for Generation Z and focus on 15-20 year olds. They were at TY Expo to promote Zeminar, which takes place in October in the RDS coinciding with global mental health week and features a huge range of influential speakers.